Day 1

21 June 1997: Solothurn, Switzerland - Bloomington, MN

07.46: I take the train from Solothurn to the airport at Zurich. My flight (SR/DL 123) leaves at 11.20, so there's plenty of time for check-in, etc. Before boarding the plane, there are the usual stupid questions about my luggage, etc. - for security purposes, you understand...

I get a really nice window seat in the back of the Boeing 767-300ER - the flight leaves about half an hour late due to bad weather in Zurich...

... which causes me to miss my connection at Cincinnati. Well, too bad about that. The folks from Delta are really nice and give me a seat on the next available flight, which leaves about three hours later. Thus, I have a little time to explore the airport at Cincinnati (which is actually across the river in Kentucky). Well, airports are airports ...

I finally arrive at Minneapolis/St.Paul Int'l Airport - a little later than planned, but safe - pick up my rental car from Avis (a white 1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE) and drive to my hotel in Bloomington (a suburb in the Twin cities area), where I had reserved a room through the Internet (It worked, can you imagine!).

As it's already quite late and I'm really quite tired, I go more or less straight to bed (well, maybe I watched Sportscenter before that ...) and fall asleep ...